Motivated by mounting medical costs, lawmakers and executives are urging doctors to embrace prescribing medications online. The move could save billions of dollars per year, and proponents say electronic prescriptions will make transactions more efficient, reduce medication errors and entice doctors to prescribe less expensive drugs.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved Medtronic's Endeavor zotarolimus-eluting coronary stent system to be used in the treatment of coronary artery disease. It is the first new drug-eluting stent to be approved by the FDA since 2004.
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey has notified its members that an employee laptop computer containing personal information for about 300,000 individuals was stolen. The insurer has sent letters to thousands of its members alerting them about the theft, which occurred in Newark, NJ, on Jan. 5, 2008. Horizon says the personal information contained on the computer included names and addresses of members, but no medical data.
A bill being considered in a New Hampshire House committee seeks to tighten health information privacy regulations. If approved, the state's rules would go beyond the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The proposed state law also seeks to put stricter regulations on health information used for research.
As President Bush vies for electronic medical records as one way to reform the nation's ailing healthcare system, some Las Vegas physicians and health insurance carriers are buying in. Southwest Medical Associates, for example, is offering patients My SMA Health Online--which provides patients with a personal page where they can schedule, change or cancel primary care physician and pediatric doctor appointments. Patients can also request prescription renewals from their physicians, manage and update their personal account information and e-mail their physicians.